Fortunately, salvation is by grace, through faith, and we do not doubt that even in the dark ages many were saved in spite of their blind leaders and their limited knowledge.

However, we fear that the spiritual leaders of our day will fare little better than the leaders of their day when they appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ, for they have certainly not taken heed to build according to the plans and specifications committed to Paul as God’s appointed “masterbuilder” of the Church (I Cor. 3:10).

Just think a moment. Is the Church today mostly composed of “gold, silver and precious stones” (morally and spiritually), or of “wood, hay and stubble” (I Cor. 3:12)? Surely many a man who enjoys prominence and popularity today will weep in that day to see his works go up in flames, as it were (I Cor. 3:13). It will be a dreadful thing to “suffer loss” when the rewards for Christian service are given out (Ver. 15).

Christian ministers, missionaries, evangelists, Bible teachers, we appeal to you in behalf of a stricken Church. They are God’s building — we are the builders (Vers. 9,10). “We are laborers together with God.” What a calling! Paul, as an instructed “masterbuilder,” has given us the plans and specifications in his epistles. We should be intelligent workmen; workmen whom God can approve, who will not need to be ashamed when the divine Building Inspector examines our workmanship.

There is only one way. Take your hand off the public pulse (Gal. 1:10), cease giving so much attention to organizing and advertising — and compromising — and begin to diligently, prayerfully obey II Tim. 2:15:

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.”

We will not always be praised for teaching the Word of God, rightly divided, but God’s blessing is worth far more than human acclaim.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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